1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a portable device for displaying charge information, which for example displays a remaining amount of a battery for a vehicle, and also relates to a charge information display system made up of the portable device and a controller.
2. Related Art
In recent years, environment-responsive cars (so-called eco-cars) such as hybrid cars and electronic cars have attracted attention in the automobile industry. The hybrid car is a car powered by an electronic motor besides a gasoline engine. The electronic car is a car powered by the electric motor alone. By the use of the electric motor, these environment-responsive cars can suppress consumption of gasoline and emission of carbon oxide, and have thus been expected to prevail as new-generation cars that contribute to protection of the global environment.
In the environment-responsive car as thus described, a battery such as a lithium-ion battery is used as a driving source of the electric motor. This battery can be externally charged. As the method for charging the battery, there are methods such as a method for performing charging directly from a domestic power supply, and a method for performing charging through the use of a fast charger installed in a shopping mall or the like. In any case, if charge information on a battery such as a remaining amount thereof can be checked whenever necessary, the battery can be charged at the time of need, which is convenient for a user. Thereat, systems have hitherto been proposed in which charge information on a battery is notified from a device mounted with the battery to a portable terminal or the like (e.g. see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-54302, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2007-57273, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-177509).
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-54302 describes that, whether or not a battery is normal or whether or not display of detailed history data on the battery is necessary is determined based upon data from a battery-state determining device, and only when the display of the history data is determined as necessary, the data is displayed in externally located another section.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2007-57273 describes that, when a wireless slave, connected to terminal equipment and driven by a battery, receives an inquiry signal from a portable terminal for communicating information with the terminal equipment, the slave transmits a remaining-amount signal indicating a remaining amount of the battery to the portable terminal device.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-177509 describes that, when a decrease in remaining amount of a battery for a cellular phone to a reference value is detected, a remaining-amount notification signal is transmitted from the cellular phone to a subscriber data managing unit, and when the remaining amount of the battery recovers by charging, a recovery signal is transmitted from the cellular phone to the subscriber data managing unit.